Independent wrestling star “The It Girl” Maya World is in the middle of a breakout year, capturing multiple championships, competing for major international promotions, and learning from some of the best in the business. In a new, in-depth interview on “The Main Moment” with Emily Mae for WrestlingNews.co, she reflected on her journey in 2025, her goals for the future, her mentorship with Ring of Honor Women’s World Champion Athena, and the emotional experience of meeting her idol, Mercedes Moné.
Currently holding the VIP Women’s Championship and the Inspire Pure Prestige Championship, Maya has been a dominant force on the Texas independent scene and beyond. She stated that her success this year is the culmination of goals she set for herself at the beginning of the year. “Honestly, 2024 I was hoping that that year shaped what 2025 would be for me, because I had so many goals,” she said.
One of her biggest goals was to wrestle for a Joshi promotion, a style of Japanese women’s wrestling known for its high-impact, athletic style. She accomplished that goal this year, competing for both Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling and Spark Joshi during their events in the United States. “The fact that I was one of the few picked to represent the United States, to wrestle for TJPW or Spark Joshi in Texas was also a big deal for me,” she explained. “So, yeah, it’s just it’s kind of shaping up to everything I wanted it to be, and hopefully it just keeps growing from here.”
While she has already achieved so much this year, Maya has her sights set on even bigger things. “Honestly, all the above. I do want to wrestle everyone. I do want to collect every belt,” she stated. Her ultimate dream, however, lies beyond the borders of the United States. “My ultimate goal was just to go overseas, go to the UK, go to Japan,” she revealed. “But definitely, belt collecting. I need to be in a belt collecting era soon. I have three right now. I need to build them back up.” (Scroll to read more and click below to watch the full interview)
A significant part of her recent success can be attributed to her mentorship with Athena. When asked what it was like to be taken under the wing of the ROH Champion, Maya explained that it’s a relationship built on “tough love.” “If you know Athena, it’s all tough love,” she said. “So when she called me her favorite, it was like, the first time I was hearing of it. So I was very excited about it.”
She explained that Athena’s mentorship began shortly after she graduated from wrestling school. “As soon as I graduated, I went to all the other schools I could go to, which she was the first one,” Maya recalled. “She just wanted to help from the get-go.” This led to major opportunities for the young star. “I got to be backstage at AEW like a month or two after I started with her, and then just the advice she’s given me, the opportunities she’s helped and opened the doors for me,” she explained. “She definitely took me in as her own.”
That mentorship led to one of the biggest moments of Maya’s life: meeting her idol, Mercedes Moné. The first encounter happened backstage at an AEW taping, and it was a complete surprise orchestrated by Athena. “We walk through these doors and… I saw her sitting there, like, signing turnbuckles. And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I knew what she was doing’,” Maya said. “As soon as I saw Mercedes, I knew she was trying to introduce me to her.”
The moment was overwhelming for the young star. “We had this little meeting, and she was telling me, like, Athena told her so much about me… and Athena was just standing there like a proud mom, just laughing, because she could tell I was really freaking out,” she said. “I couldn’t say anything… All my social went out the window.”
A few weeks later, Moné made a surprise appearance at Athena’s all-women’s independent show, where Maya was competing in the opening match. “I was like, ‘Okay, Mercedes is gonna watch your match. You gotta go out and kill it with Billie Starkz.’ And we had a great match. So I was very excited about that.” Now that she has met her idol, Maya has a new goal in mind: a dream match. “I hope so. I’m praying so,” she said of a potential match. “I really need that match.”
While she is currently focused on her wrestling career, Maya also has aspirations outside of the ring. She revealed that before she pursued wrestling full-time, she was studying to become a sports journalist. “Before I was wrestling, I was doing sports journalism, actually, because I really wanted to be in sports broadcasting,” she revealed. “I still want to go back and finish that while doing wrestling, because it’s a good avenue to have outside of wrestling also.”
For now, though, her focus remains on the squared circle. When asked to draft a dream softball team of her independent wrestling peers, she quickly assembled a lineup of top talent, including herself at shortstop. The fun exercise showed her deep connection to the community of female wrestlers she has grown with.
From her breakout year to her championship aspirations, her mentorship with Athena, and her emotional encounters with Mercedes Moné, Maya World’s journey is one of passion and determination. With a clear vision for her future, “The It Girl” is poised to continue her takeover of the wrestling world.
This interview is exclusive to WrestlingNews.co. If you use these quotes, please include a link back to this page.
